Review: Sunshine

Now, the basis of science fiction and fantasy is the suspension of disbelief. You put aside that pesky scientic theory that there cannot be faster than light travel, and you accept that humans will be able to build a engine to do that before we evolve into some other form of life.

Not so with Sunshine. The premise of the film is that the sun is dying, so mankind is going to kick-start that puppy with a nuke the size of Manhattan. I’d like to say that from there it all starts to get a little silly, but… it wasn’t too bad, and did manage to maintain a degree of tension.

Essentially, Sunshine is a sci-thriller (as opposed to the omnipresent sci-drama). Will the team make it to the sun with enough oxygen to complete the mission?! Will they be able to resolve enough personal emnity to get the mission done?! What is greater, the needs of the one, or the needs of the many?! WILL THE GODDAMN BOMB EVEN WORK!!?!

You get the picture. I had to completely ignore that it will take [insert correct answer] years before the sun begins to cool enough to concern the Earth, and that dropping a nuke in the middle will do anything at all, and get on with enjoying the ride. The problem being that in a billion years we won’t look anything like humanity does now, nor will we have the Sydney Opera House, which actually appears in one shot…

But a thriller it was. Everything looks like it’s ticking over when the crew of the Icarius Two get a distress signal from the Icarius One, which did not complete it’s mission. It’s still out there, and they’ve got to see if they can’t get its bomb as well, so they can really set the sun ablaze.

Naturally things start going wrong, and characters start dying almost immediately. And, it actually had me on the edge of my seat at times!

So, if what you need to do is get out of the house for a Sunday afternoon and are happy to sit in a cinema for a bit, then Sunshine could be just the thing for you.